Saibaba Trust to build hospital in Shirdi

Hyderabad: In order to expand the free health treatment services for the needy people, the Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust, Shirdi, is constructing one more hospital near Shirdi town of Maharashtra, in addition to the two existing ones. The proposed 600-bed `Saibaba Hospital` would be constructed at a cost of Rs 245 crore and the trust has already sanctioned the fund for its construction, a trustee of the Sansthan, Ashok Khambekar, who was in the city here, told PTI today.

Presently the trust was running `Saibaba Superspeciality Hospital` and `Sainath Hospital`, each, with 200 bed capacity in Shirdi town, for which, the trust is spending Rs 70 crore annually to provide health facilities to those from the Below Poverty Line (BPL). Over 37,000 poor patients from across the country are provided free treatment for various heart ailments during the last 5 years for which the Trust has spent Rs 54 crore.

"The Trust has taken up various developmental programmes to provide facilities including accommodation and health services to needy people and devotees visiting Shirdi. It has now been decided to build one more hospital at Nandurki village about 5 km Shirdi town, apart from the existing two hospitals being run by the Trust in Shirdi," Khambekar explained.

Nandurki village Gram Panchayat has also donated 15 hectres of land to the trust free of cost for the purpose, Khambekar said, adding that the project would be completed in three years. Khambekar said the trust also decided to construct a garden which would be christened `Sai garden? near Nimgaon village.

Construction for the proposed garden has commenced and the garden would be ready in two years. The main attraction of the garden would be the `laser show`, Khambekar said adding that the works has been alloted to a Hongkong-based company, while civil work was handed over to a Hyderabad-based firm. He said, the Trust has also decided to develop approach roads towards Shirdi town and also within the town under Shirdi Integrated Road Development Scheme for which Rs 88 crore has been sanctioned.